Must be a typo, it is The Gardner News after all........
On page 4 of todays Gardner News is the line "Instead of paying $110 per ton for cold patch that washes out every week, we pay $5 per ton, saving thousands of dollars a year" That is according to the DPW director of Gardner. It seems that by trying something different, taking a different approach, there is a way to save tax dollars.
Chapter 90 Program:
The chapter 90 program was created back in 1973 by a vote of the public works commission. It states at the beginning that the program was for capital improvement projects for highway construction, preservation and improvement projects that create or extend the life of capital facilities. It also states at the beginning that the funds shall be for the maintenance, repair, improvement and construction of town and county ways and bridges which qualify under the state aid highway guidelines adopted by the public works commission. Then in 1994, the program was amended, which then allowed for the use of road money for equipment and dwellings such as salt storage sheds. So if you have open ended salt storage sheds that allow for the salt to become wet and then freeze up and you have to deal with clumps and such, it looks as though it may be as a result of, well, ones own stupidity, because the funds are right there in front of you to fix or build a new one. Of course if one becomes focused on new toys rather than material that is used to keep the roads clear in winter time and you know, keep you safe, then the salt shed does not see the light of day.
It seems clear the original intent of the chapter 90 program was to assist towns and cities in maintaining and building roads and bridges. It is my opinion that the changes that came 10 years after its creation, the program was amended to include equipment and structures as a result of political maneuvering and another effort to get around the voters. Interesting to me is the fact that the ability to buy and lease equipment and build structures is at the end of the program outline as well as the fact that when chapter 90 funds are mentioned, most people say, the road money.
I recall back in the summer of 2013, Templeton BOS pretty much spent the summer talking to residents about an override and the importance of it passing and it did pass. It was mentioned in The Beacon that in the fall of 2013, Templeton was the only community out of 7 or 8 to pass an override. I like to think that we, the Templeton BOS did our job of informing the residents of the need. I believed then and I believe now, that you cannot earn the trust of the voters by going against them after they voted no. I believe that many overrides for equipment and roads have failed because the voters did not think their money was being well spent and I also believe that you do not help yourself by going to chapter 90 money for a new loader after the voters already said no to that question at town meeting. The loaders are old, they have lots of hours on them and they most likely have not been serviced as good as they should be, but now the town has three loaders. What kind of message does that send to the voters. About the same kind of message that was sent after the recall fiasco back in 2012! For the past 12 years, I have heard and read how bad the condition the equipment of the Templeton highway department is and yet every year, that equipment is still going up and down the road. If it is actually that bad, park it for good. Go to the voters and tell them that this truck, this loader etc., is no longer safe to go on the road. The present a plan or ideas on how to replace it or them; we will need an override to purchase a new truck or loader, we will use chapter 90 money, we would like to lease or we would like to use a combination, something other than the fleet is old and we make do and do the best we can. That has not worked and buying the loader out of chapter 90 money has upset quite a few people. We all know not many people go to selectmen meetings and some do watch it on the TV, but it requires time with no surprise. Perhaps a non binding vote at town meeting or something. I am pretty sure you can't go to town meeting and election for an override, have it fail then turn to chapter 90 money, say the BOS okayed it, then back to town meeting for a vote to use future snow & ice money to buy equipment and expect to get a positive vote.
Now I think I will go check on the supposed leak in the roof on the police station, the rumors of mold and to see if there is an air exchanger and if there is one, does it work.
Jeff Bennett
Jeff if you took time to come and talk we would /could show you the story that you tell. Come and see the line of scrap equipment you talk about. The line of out of service scrap that is. Parked for good. The "message" is we will get all that we can from the equipment that we have left. When on their last leg a loader has only one last repair if the equipment has had it that’s it. Do you get it?
ReplyDeleteWe with an ok from the authority purchased the new loader as we could not rely on the others to safely get this town through another winter. What if we do anything like you say we could? Without the new loader we have an ice storm and we have one of the old ones breakdown. Parts are not in stock and need to wait for parts. That would leave us with only a small loader an L70 to do the work of the large L90. Smaller one would work harder to do the job of the larger one. Soon the smaller one over worked and worn out would quit also. That would leave the town with no loaders and a line of people asking why didn't the people in charge purchase a loader. That I think is what you would like to see happen. Could you get the list of the quite a few people who are upset about the chapter 90 money purchases? Go to the shoe box of a police station and poke at the quality of infrastructure they have to get to do what they have to do with what we give them to do it with. While you’re at it get something done about it and see how you could help them get a better station to work out of. After all what do the people of Templeton have to show for their tax rate? Name the pros and cons of what our former leadership has produced as a positive. The schools? NO. Their old. The fire stations? NO .Their old. Add it all up a very short new list comes up and a very long list for old. The only thing we can look at is the new high school and redone middle school. Wow with the tarps "we" you wil and I, put on the old E>T> elementary school we now have a town hall rent free. Only after the voters were educated about the uses of the CPC money did that pass. So I think you may be a bit off if I might say when it comes to the override an education may need to happen as to what is needed and why.
As for the roof leak when you say "supposed leak" I think you cross the line and may want to treat that department a little different. As for the run down about how to follow protocol for getting the equipment been there done that. The grant program chapter 90 was and is the only way for the highway department to keep the minimal fleet we need to keep this town safe. You may not understand and it gets confusing but people who do what we do know the importance of reliable equipment and when the safety could be in jeopardy. No vote is to be had that will leave a department in a state of lack of ability to keep this town safe. If the fire chief says what we have said and asked for and his equipment was in the state ours is. Would you do the same to him? My advice to you Jeff for better or worse give it a rest and leave the town’s problems to the people who are working to fix what they can with what they have to fix them with. In my opinion that has worked and will in the future. Owe and about the override passing you sold to the voters. You forgot to mention the whole town got a seven week layoff due to a shortfall of 550,000.00. So if we look back at the meeting when we were getting the amount of the override from the input from the room. The amount of 1 million was brought up you and i both said we needed over 1 million but we were sure we would fail. So if we looked at the result of the effort you talk about getting a vote to pass for the money. We were setting up failure before the vote. That is the result the departments who have to deal with safety can't allow if there is a way to avoid it. Yes we have three loaders now, how long? The gamble to have to count on the old ones was greater than the risk if we did and they fail. With no loader there is no sanding. With no sanding the roads are deadly. I lost a daughter to black ice and will do what i can to keep any others from the same. That you wouldn't understand
ReplyDeleteJust for the record the story about the 5$ cold patch amount would be the gate mounted prototype unit they use that heats millings and added pelets make them stick after heated by a burner unit. I have seen the unit at the equipment show and as we have asked about would like the unit also. It requires grindings and has a far less output for overall completed work. Less than 25% of regular cold patch. I think the unit was about 30,000.00 when i saw it on display. The problem we would have is the truck to put it on but you knew about that.
ReplyDeleteThe Gardner DPW has used the machine for 2 seasons maybe 3 and still have as many potholes and i think they purchased it with chapter 90 money.
Dave you are right, I cannot relate to loosing a child or parent to a car accident. That said, it gives me more to wonder about, as in why would you of all people be so unwilling to even the idea of changing the way and or the products used to deal with snow 7 ice? As an FYI, do you know what I have been doing here in MA since 2003 - landscaping work, sweeping and snow & ice, so I am not confused on what works and I know of all the work dealing with sand. That is on top of the snow plowing and the use of salt that I did with my dad back in the 60's and early 70's. In Afghanistan, I served in a construction unit that was involved in building roads, expanding areas outside of the FOBs as well as constructing within the walls as well as traveling over 10,000 miles on the roads of an area of southern Afghanistan so please do not try to tell me I do not understand or am confused on the importance of reliable equipment when my life is at stake! Another FYI is I do not make lists nor do I write down names when people speak to me in the grocery store or on the side of the road or other places. Perhaps you follow your own advice and leave the problems of say the water department's problem of finding the money to paint the tanks to the people elected to do that. Now for the fire department and police department; close the fire station in Templeton Center, convert it to police station, tear down the present police station and use that space for new school, there by using existing town assets to better the town and you cut costs of fire department, but hey, I could not get the rest of the BOS to explore further the proposal of Templeton regionalizing the town's dispatch service, even though the preliminary study projected a savings to the town of almost 100K. Now you may not understand this and it may be confusing, but when people see road money used to buy equipment or they drive by their school building and see wood trim rotting and or in need of paint, you know what they say? why give them more money when they do not take care of what they have and part of the problem is we as a whole do not participate enough in our government. So keep with the been there done that and we do with what we have attitude and you will continue to get the NO vote. I will see you at town meeting and I will speak against buying a sander body with future snow & ice funds. I know I will put in the work to make my case and we will see what the voters say, at least those who take the time to show up.
ReplyDeleteThe end game here Jeff is safety. What we do is keep the roads as safe as we can with what we have to do it with. We don't have any deserts around Templeton of federal money Endless might i add to do what you did over there. The point i try to get through is those who push for change don't have the whole story clear. Point you make "some" are very good ones and others are very poor ones. When you point out about the poor condition of the items you point at. Like the trucks or school you are 1/2 correct and wrong. As for the trucks we run my truck H7 is 30 years old + 205,000 miles on her. That truck is not the oldest. We were talking at the barn about the bolg and points on it that you make and we thought we may be able to turn in our plates for them and change to ANTIQUE ones. Would that get attention about the fleet age?
ReplyDeleteThe condition of the school is deplorable when it comes to paint. I my first year with the highway offered to use the bucket truck and paint on my own time the trim on TC school. Shot down my offer was due to new school would be soon to come. So when doing the construction you were into in Afghanistan did the equipment qualify for ANTIQUE plates? The point about we need to save and do things another way are fine and when we can change we will be the first to be happy things improved. We will also be the first to take the hits if the changes don't work out so well. I have a hard time being labled as unwilling this is not the case. I look at the glass as half full and when it is there is still a half glass of air with the other contents. When you give the ideas about the highway ops. You offer only a half full glass of ideas. The other half is the money end and thats my point. You compare the price of coldpatch from the gardner news article and only put half the story out. The facts are it's a more labor intensive operation and not a fix. Is the heated recycled way cheaper? Do the roads get safer faster or slower. The real facts go untold and the focus goes to the amount of money. The safer point is lost and we look only into the way to save more money. Both ways to patch are only a bandaid. Done like the article said as best they can with what they have to work with. The truck , heater box and product needed are more than the article says. So you want things to change and be safer things will need to expand as in labor force. The 1 truck would take about 3-5 days to do only barre rd in the shape it's now in. This town has let everything go to a poor condition for the sake of low taxes. The fact they allowed the school to get that way is for them to share the blame. Who puts the school committee in place,the select boards in place,the voters do and with it allow the town failure to continue. When the people on the select board go out on pothole watch and know the condition of the roads before why be surprised they find them.
We need a hotline like the Gardner DPW has and let the people call or text in the issues they see. Holly can field and screen them as we go and do the repairs that are endless this time of year. The point you made about the military truck and the cost was good and it has a limit for use. It can't be fitted with a plow and the transfer all wheel drive is not functional so traction has been a problem even for snow removal. Without a load in it it won't move on any slippery areas.
The frame is not a heavy duty and only single layer. As with the fire truck we converted to a sander it can only do sanding . Not a heavy duty frame to plow with . Many things that look one way are not the way you may see them if the whole story is known. It's easy to see the glass half full and the way i see it there is always something else in it to make it full of something. AIR!
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